Aurora borealis academica : Aberdeen University appreciations, 1860-1889.

Date:
1899
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Aurora borealis academica : Aberdeen University appreciations, 1860-1889. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    the hopes held out to him of having induced the majority of the Senatus to make alterations and im- provements in the University had not been realised A sentence from Hume’s speech when opening the Rectorial Court on 14th November, 1825, is also worthy of mention. He observed : “That every other individual belonging to the college was appointed by the patrons or by the Senatus ; the only one appointed by the students was the Rector ; and the object of the founder seemed to have been, that there should exist a sort of umpire between the governors and the governed. It had been with that view that the Rector was selected by the founder, and therefore he [the Rector] considered it to be more especially his duty to ascertain the rights of the students, and see justice done to them.” This was the first bold stand publicly made for strength- ening the position of the Rector, though another generation had arisen, and Hume himself had passed away, before any step was taken to carry out the reforms he advocated. The other name to which it is proper to allude is that of Mr. John Inglis, both from his having been last Rector of King’s College before the Union and also on account of the prominent position which he took in carrying out the fusion of the two colleges. John Inglis, the fourth son of the Rev. Dr. John Inglis, minister of Old Greyfriars, Edinburgh, was